Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 912: Timing to Send Troops
Yuan Xi did not know about the collusion between Cao Ying and Jiang Dong. After all, it was impossible for him to collect all the information, but he still responded to it to a certain extent.

Especially for Jiangdong, after discussing with Jushou, he thought about it again and again, and finally wrote to Chen Deng, adopting a temporarily appeasing attitude to the Xuzhou nobles. After all, Xuzhou was on the front line against Jiangdong, and stability should be the priority. .

No matter how strong the fortress is, it is easier to break through from the inside. Chen Deng tried his best to prevent internal and external troubles in Xuzhou. If he forced the Xuzhou nobles to do something beyond their tolerance, it would be counterproductive.

But in contrast, Yuan Xi began to ask the Mi family to slowly shift the focus of the caravan from Haixi to Donglai, Qingzhou, and shift the next development direction to the Bohai Sea area of ​​the Korean Peninsula.

As for the luxury goods that were previously dumped to Jiangdong, Yuan Xi began to purposefully control sales, and began to transfer the craftsmen who had previously been transferred from Youzhou to Xuzhou back to the Bohai area in Qingzhou and Jizhou.

This method had little impact on the Xuzhou gentry at first, but when they later needed to buy the luxury goods they were accustomed to at several times the price, it was already too late.

And this series of actions also serve the future development direction of Youzhou. After all, Youzhou's frontier fortress is a place where Han and Hu people live together. In fact, these people do not have high requirements. They just want to have a legitimate identity and have enough to eat. Just have a stable place to live.

The Southern Xiongnu, Neiwuhuan, the four counties of Han, and even the tribesmen of the Korean Peninsula, these people who are still in the tribal system all have the same idea, and it is actually not difficult to satisfy them.

Regarding this aspect, Yuan Xi found that the series of measures he had taken previously in Youzhou had achieved unexpected results.

During the two years of the war, although he did not personally take charge of Jicheng, Jushou and other officials established voluntary schools, built voluntary warehouses, developed handicraft businesses, and rewarded outstanding craftsmen to become officials. This series of measures made the coming All the foreigners in Jicheng saw this.

Of course, this measure is very popular with the general tribesmen, but it will inevitably touch the interests of the Hu tribe leaders, so there must be leaders who will coerce the tribesmen into confrontation.

As for the time to send troops, Yuan Xi and Jushou discussed it and finally decided on it. After he announced the news to the generals, Zhao Yun, Zhang Liao and other generals were extremely surprised. Zhao Yun smiled bitterly and said: "My lord's actions are really unexpected. "

Therefore, as Jicheng has developed and prospered in recent years, more and more tribesmen have moved south from the north, and most of them have been resettled in the narrow strip of land from Xu Wushan to the Korean Peninsula to reclaim wasteland, which has greatly accelerated the construction of the inner circle of the Bohai Sea.

That's why Yuan Xicai tried his best to solve border issues through peaceful means. These will be important forces in building Youzhou in the future. Fighting can indeed kill the enemy, but it will increase a lot of unnecessary hatred. When the conflict between the two sides becomes difficult to resolve or even breaks out, , it is irreversible. In this case, it may not be a bad idea to adopt softer methods.

However, they still had doubts. They felt that because Jicheng was Yuan Xi's base camp, there might be some bias, so they deliberately passed through villages and towns on their way back, only to find that the people's lives and even the relief measures were not much different from Jicheng. , now, these barbarians are tempted, because compared with the lives of the people in Youzhou, their lives are simply in the sky and on the earth.

In other words, their descendants will be able to enter free schools and be qualified to serve as officials in the future, and Youzhou rewards craftsmen and other talents with special talents. This is for the Waihu people who are good at hunting, making bows, foraging herbal medicines, and tanning furs. , the temptation is extremely strong.

Either to rob other tribes, or to go south to plunder the Han people, but now the Youzhou army's counterattack is extremely fierce. The last two times when Wai Xianbei entered the pass to plunder, the two heads of Beijing Temple left behind are still standing today!
So these foreigners secretly thought of joining Youzhou, but when they inquired about it, they found that the conditions were unexpectedly loose. As long as they could reclaim wasteland, they would be exempted from paying taxes for the first year and half the tax in the second year. The most important thing about renting is that it allows the people to be organized into households, and as civilians, not as serfs!

Even if there are tribesmen who are being coerced, they will be won over after Yuan Xi adopts the Qingzhou land policy.

Some of them came here as envoys, some to do business, and some to inquire about information in the name of the tribe. When they first saw the prosperity of Jicheng, they couldn't believe their eyes. How could Jicheng change so much?
But as time went by, they gradually discovered that what they saw and heard was true, because the living standards could not be faked. They noticed that the lives of the people in Jicheng were obviously much better than in previous years, and almost most of them As long as people have made contributions to industry, agriculture and commerce, their children are eligible to enter the free school. Even if they are temporarily unable to enter, Jicheng officials have explained that it is because there are not enough free school teachers, and sooner or later everyone will benefit from the free school.

Yuan Xi's response to this was to use Qubei and other leaders who had defected to secretly divide the group. After winning over the centrists who could win over, the remaining die-hards could only use war to solve the problem.

Because no matter how bad farming is, it is much more stable than grazing. Farming may yield no harvest, but under the relief system, it is possible to survive the famine years. However, if grazing encounters a natural disaster, all the livestock may die overnight. , when the time comes, in order to survive, everyone will have only one choice: to rob other people’s food.

Moreover, Jicheng has a very detailed support system for the people, from regular consultations by doctors to relief in times of disaster. When there was a heavy snowfall in Jicheng, soldiers opened roads and sent food to relieve the people. This had a huge impact on the envoys from the frontier fortress, because they could almost only rely on self-protection in the face of such a natural disaster.

Therefore, Yuan Xi adhered to the principle of courtesy first and then military. The contradiction between the Hu and Han border people was that the Eastern Han Dynasty was far more irresponsible than the Western Han Dynasty. This system created a large number of slaves, which led to continuous rebellions by the Qiang and Huns. Now Yuan Xi wants to bring order to the chaos. Try to eliminate the existence of this class.

People are very tenacious, and what the labor force can do is amazing. As long as there is no disruption from the losses of war, Youzhou's current development momentum already has some signs of tens of thousands of people coming to court. In this troubled world where life is hard to protect, , like a bright light in the dark night, constantly attracting people from different places, but it is also because of the foundation laid by the Han Dynasty for hundreds of years that allows foreigners to have the same destination and sense of identity, and things will go so smoothly.

"In this case, many war horses may die."

Yuan Xi spoke up: "In order to kill fewer people and kill more horses, it is worth it."

"What's more, the same is true for the Southern Xiongnu. Their situation will only get worse, and they don't expect us to send troops at this time." Yuan Xiding's plan was to send troops as soon as possible, the sooner the better, preferably within the first month!
You know, the infantry will definitely not be able to move at this time. The snow on the grassland has not disappeared, and people's feet will be frozen to death after walking for several days. Only cavalry can rely on horses to travel through mountains and rivers, but the attrition rate of war horses will definitely be high.

Moreover, it is difficult to find fuel along the way, you may not be able to eat hot food, and it is difficult to identify the direction when encountering heavy snow. These are all fatal flaws that are extremely taboo in marching. If you are not careful, the entire army will be annihilated.

When Zhang Liao suggested that if the weather was bad and the sun and stars could not be seen, and it was impossible to find the way on the grassland, Yuan Xi played with a small gadget on the table, showed it to everyone, and said: "This is the area of ​​Heishan and Changshan. , found in a place called Cishan during the Warring States Period in Hebei."

"I asked people to survey and mine, quarried a batch of magnets, polished people into needles, and then placed them on the disk."

"Originally it was intended to be used for navigation, but now it can also be used for marching."

The generals gathered around and saw a needle with a thick middle and thin ends on a small disk. One of the needles was painted red. As Yuan Xi shook it, the needle tip trembled slightly.

Yuan Xi threw his hand and saw the disk spinning on the table and finally stopped.

He picked it up again and threw it twice. The generals watched intently and finally discovered the key. The red direction, no matter how the disk turned, ended up pointing in the same direction.

"How about it?" Yuan Xi smiled at Zhang Liao and said, "In this way, it can save a lot of time in identifying the direction, right?"

Zhang Liao smiled and said: "It turns out that my lord has already thought about it. With the help of this thing, it will save a lot of time and greatly speed up the march."

Yuan Xi nodded. There are dangers in the grassland, but if you make good use of it, you can get twice the result with half the effort. For example, when marching at night, you don't have to worry about the terrain. You don't need to find a suitable road like the plains and mountains. As long as the direction is right, you can keep running.

He said aloud: "As for other difficulties, I have also dealt with them."

"Nobody brought at least four horses, two war horses and two pack horses."

"One of the pack horses carries weapons and armor, and the other packs grain and coal."

"When coal is used to make a fire, it saves the time of collecting firewood and the combustion efficiency is higher."

"As for sending messages, rockets can be used to prevent separation and to join forces."

"As for the map, I also sent people to survey it before, and used it in conjunction with the topographic map provided by Qu Beishian."

"If you have any other ideas, feel free to tell me."

The generals were relieved upon hearing this. It turned out that Yuan Xi had already thought of most of the things. It was not because he had no choice but to send troops now that he was fully prepared!

They became excited and started talking about it. From the marching method to the marching route, everything gradually began to take shape. Yuan Xi saw it from the side and was quite pleased in his heart. These generals he wanted to recruit were all familiar with the art of war. , talented people with both wisdom and courage, with them, I save a lot of worry.

Finally, the matter was finalized. Zhang He and Zhang Liao were the two forwards, Tian Yu and Yan Rou were on the two wings, Yuan Xi and Zhao Yun were in charge of the middle army, and Gao Shun was the rear army. They only waited for someone from Qubei to lead the way before sending out troops.

The reason why so many generals are mobilized is because Yuan Xi does not want to fight a protracted war. Every day he saves, he can accumulate victory.

More than ten days later, the messenger to Bei arrived. The army that had been prepared for a long time left Jicheng and went straight to Daijun.

(End of this chapter)